Empty Cups

How many times have you heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? A plate of scrambled eggs (ok, no egg yolks [deep sigh]) with some cheese and turkey ham energizes me for the morning. And then the smell of that first cup of coffee fills the room—ah-h-h-h, yes.

         Lately in blogland, numerous artworks, quilts, and fabrics contain images of tea or coffee pots and cups that cheer us up. Here’s mine:

The shadows were created on the background fabric with thinned acrylic paint. The coffee pot and cups are machine pieced with mostly commercial fabrics from flea market clothing although there is at least one of my hand painted fabrics as well. Constructing the tablecloth with several of my grandmother’s doilies made this piece exciting for me

                                       despite it’s overall blah colors.

                                                   Here’s the back:

Can’t get more blah than that. I’m not sure if I’m jumping on the bandwagon of cheerfulness. Indeed, the central panel with coffee pot and cups was made over fourteen years ago in response to a French poem that French language teachers use to teach a past verb tense, the “passé composé.”  And so this art quilt is dedicated to a newcomer to the endangered species list: the French language teacher.

         French poet Jacques Prévert had a different take on breakfast : he spoiled it.  However, his poem serves to express feelings of abandonment in such a way as to make this the saddest poem I know. Written with simple words and short, direct sentences, it speaks of those terrible, deep feelings that we have all felt at some point in life when loved ones turn their backs on us with indifference. This is the poem in French [with my translation] that I stitched around the coffee pot.

Le Déjeuner du matin                                The Morning Meal

Il a mis le café                                            He put the coffee

Dans la tasse                                               In the cup

Il a mis le lait                                              He put the milk

Dans la tasse de café                                   In the cup of coffee

Avec la petite cuillère                                 With the coffee spoon

Il a tourné                                                   He stirred

Il a bu le café au lait                                    He drank the coffee

Et il a reposé la tasse                                   And he put down the cup

Sans me parler                                            Without speaking to me

Il a allumé                                                   He lit

Une cigarette                                               A cigarette

Il a fait des ronds                                         He made rings

Avec la fumée                                             With the smoke

Il a mis les cendres                                       He put the ashes

Dans le cendrier                                           In the ashtray

Sans me parler                                             Without speaking to me

Sans me regarder                                          Without looking at me

Il s’est levé                                                   He stood up

Il a mis                                                         He put

Son chapeau sur sa tête                                 His hat on his head

Il a mis                                                         He put on

Son manteau de pluie                                   His raincoat

Parce qu’il pleuvait                                       Because it was raining

Et il est parti                                                 And he left

Sous la pluie                                                 In the rain

Sans une parole                                            Without a word

Sans me regarder                                          Without looking at me

Et moi j’ai pris                                              And me, I took

Ma tête dans ma main                                   My head in my hand

Et j’ai pleuré.                                                And I wept.

--Jacques Prévert (from Paroles, 1946)

Such sad emotions affect us profoundly. We try to avoid them. Around the coffee pot, cups and table the vague form of a house takes shape, walls and a roof made with square pieces, apparently solid and orderly, nothing out of the ordinary. Protection. Neutral colors...

We try desperately to create order in our lives, filling them with routines and with objects like coffee pots and cups and linens. We build structures to keep out the wind and rain.

                      And then the foundations shake and the walls crack.

                                        Our world temporarily falls apart.

The two empty coffee cups represent two emptied people as well. The use of stained doilies and several satins and brocades (raw edges showing) to create the tablecloth suggests aging, fraying, and decay. A leaf pattern takes over the tablecloth, and dead leaves fall onto shaking foundations like teardrops. Empty Cups (June 2012, 43"x35"/110cmx89cm) is hand embroidered, appliquéd, and quilted, and machine pieced, appliquéd and quilted. 

I first stitched the white background with a running stitch, then embroidered the words with an outline stitch. Hand quilting was required in this part because of the serious buckling that happens when I attempt to do something that you're not supposed to do. The motto "It will all quilt out" serves me well.

           For the shaking foundations, I appliquéd beige fabric with tiny scraps, 

                added machine stitching in black, then sliced it to create turbulence. 

                 The black fabric contains machine stitching to add movement.

                                 Sometimes we must remember difficult moments 
                                to keep our perspective and to count our blessings.